Washington Business Journal
Week of January 18, 1999
Focus: Human Resources
Quarterly
PRofessional Solutions
finds part-time PR
market
Heidi Przybyla Staff Reporter
Kate Perrin used to wake up every morning to the
same commercial blaring on her clock radio -- for a
temporary worker placement service.
It was 1993, and Perrin, now president of her own
temporary agency, was a public relations director
for the American College of Emergency Physicians
in Washington.
After hearing the commercial a number of times,
"eventually the light went on," she said.
Why not create an agency for public relations
temporaries? The market was sorely in need of PR
support due to corporate downsizing in the late '80s
and early '90s. With the national economy on the
rebound in 1993, firms were looking for PR support
again.
"Communications departments were the first
casualties with downsizing," said Perrin.
Perrin said many in the business turned to her for
advice on finding workers. At the same time,
workers were coming to her for job advice.
"I got a lot of phone calls from people asking for
work and from people looking for people to fill in
or work on a per-project basis," she said.
They sought her out because of her role as former
president of D.C.-based Washington Women in
Public Relations (WWPR) and her roughly 20 years
in the PR industry.
Perrin's tenure has included stints at educational
groups, nonprofits and associations.
She finally decided to act on her idea for a PR temp
agency in June of 1994.
"I never saw myself as an entrepreneur," said
Perrin.
But she knew she could make a living at it. By
1998, her two-person company, PRofessional
Solutions, brought in roughly half a million in
revenue.
Perrin runs the company with her partner, Melanie
Jordan, who handles marketing.
The company's mission is to provide short-term
skilled PR professionals to organizations in need.
Perrin said the company also finds workers for
permanent jobs when clients request it.
Filling demand
The company maintains a database of roughly 80
temps. Thirty to 50 percent are freelancers or
consultants. The others are looking for full-time
employment.
The temporaries include graduate students of PR
looking for extra cash, women with young children
and consultants who wish to remain independent but
don't want to handle their own promotion. All have
experience in PR.
Perrin finds them by networking at numerous
industry events such as those sponsored by WWPR
and the International Association of Business
Communicators. She also sends information on her
company's services to people in the PR industry
who appear in news articles.
Perrin said her clients are mostly associations and
nonprofits.
"However in the past year, there's been an upsurge
in the number of agencies we're working with," she
said, adding that the increase in demand reflects a
strong economy. "They're [agencies] getting a lot of
business."
Pam Jenkins, senior vice president at Ogilvy Public
Relations Worldwide in Washington and a Perrin
client, will attest to that.
"I'd never used a temp before for anything other
than clerical. We've usually been able to pull
people from within the agency. But because of the
fact that business is so good right now, I had the
need for a senior level specialist who could put in a
lot of time."
Jenkins found a PR professional with 20 years
experience through Perrin. Jenkins eventually hired
her full-time.
Melanie Caudron, director of communications at the
American College of Cardiology, said she has used
PRofessional Solutions to find fill-ins during two
different maternity leaves -- one for her and one for
an employee.
In the second instance, Caudron couldn't find a
freelancer for a PR assistant on her own, so she
turned to Perrin.
"I wasn't even going to try going through a normal
temp agency because it's not specialized enough,"
she said.
She said her temp worked out wonderfully by
performing basic tasks, such as press release
writing, that might have gone undone in the absence
of her full-timer.
Poor practitioners?
Although these clients say Perrin's service has
helped them avoid personnel shortage problems,
there are critics of the PR temporary industry.
Marc Hausman, president of Silver Spring-based
Strategic Communications Group, said he has
"strong feelings" about the temp practice -- and they
aren't positive.
"The reality is 90 percent of the people practicing
PR today are doing it poorly," he said.
Many commit the cardinal PR sins of calling the
press on deadline, not knowing what beats
reporters cover or what type of stories their
publications cover, he said.
The problem is exacerbated by bringing in
somebody who doesn't understand the organization,
the client and the press. To boot, he said, it would
take at least a week to get a new person up to speed
on issues and clients.
"Otherwise, [temps] are doing more harm than
good," said Hausman.
"There are many companies that have bad
reputations out there with the press," said Hausman,
because they don't value the importance of having
an informed representative communicate with the
press.
Although Perrin agrees there are many PR
practitioners who miss when it comes to hiring
qualified PR employees, she denies her service is
guilty.
If, for instance, the client wants someone who
specializes in health and medical, then that's what
they get, she said. "We have a whole range of
professionals," whose experience ranges from one
to 25 years experience in different industries.
Even applicants with a master's in PR are not
accepted for placement unless they've had practical
experience, she said.
Caudron didn't seem to have any problems with her
temp, who didn't have a background in health PR.
"The other staff has to pick up more work, but it's
still less stress than not having somebody at all,"
she said.
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